Brea's trail project on track

March 10, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Two pedestrians walk along a trail that follows an abandoned railroad track in Brea, where the Tracks project will be installed to include a 4-mile long bicycle trail for residents. Railroad tracks are currently being taken out to make space for the concrete trail. KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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An abandoned railroad track currently takes up the space where the Brea Tracks project will be installed. The project includes a 4-mile long bicycle trail. KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A sign detailing plans for the Tracks at Brea Trail project is placed along Brea Boulevard, where an old railroad track used to be. KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Two pedestrians walk along a trail that follows an abandoned railroad track in Brea, where the Tracks project will be installed to include a 4-mile long bicycle trail for residents. Railroad tracks are currently being taken out to make space for the concrete trail. KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The Tracks at Brea

•More than six years of planning

•$14 million used for the project: $6 million in grants, $8 million from redevelopment funds

•14 different grants from local, state and federal agencies

•4 miles of trailway

•More than 54 acres of land

Trail plans

For years, the stretch of railroad bisecting Brea was used as a freight link through north Orange County.

These days, though, most of the track has been removed and the property is mostly vacant. Weeds sprout from dirt. Empty liquor bottles, an overturned shopping cart, flattened cardboard boxes, even a few discarded hub caps lie scattered across weeds and a dirt walking path.

But new life could be coming soon to the stretch of land once used by Union Pacific. Carving a four-mile route through Brea, the old rail right-of-way is moving closer to becoming a haven for cyclists and joggers.

The land will eventually be transformed into a manicured trail with a two-way paved bike lane and a pedestrian path made of decomposed granite, city officials say. Other additions could include outdoor exercise equipment, playground areas for children, a railroad museum, community gardens, even an 18-hole Frisbee golf course.

"We'd love it; the sooner it gets done, the better," said Mirna Graciarena, a 13-year Brea resident, as she walked Coco, a Staffordshire terrier, along the old railroad right-of-way on a recent afternoon.

The trail sits behind back yards, lines warehouses and parking lots, crosses busy thoroughfares and travels under the 57 freeway. Most of the track was removed by Union Pacific when the city began purchasing the land in 2010. The project, dubbed the Tracks at Brea, has been heralded by city officials and organizers as a way to connect the city and encourage outdoor activity.

"The idea is to connect different neighborhoods and points of interest in Brea," said Kathie DeRobbio, the city's economic development manager. "It's about creating a healthy way of getting around – whether it's walking or bicycling. We've been working on it for a long time."

Although the trail route was in the city's General Plan in 1986, it wasn't until recently that the project began to move forward. The project's master plan was approved unanimously by the City Council in 2007. City officials have been planning and working to secure funding since.

About $14 million – from grants and redevelopment bonds – has been dedicated to the project for soil cleanup, construction and land acquisition from Union Pacific and Chevron. The city has not used any general fund money for the project, DeRobbio said.

Once completed, the trail will connect Arovista Park to the 120-acre La Floresta housing and commercial development going up near Imperial Highway and Valencia Avenue on the city's eastern edge.

A portion of the trail through Arovista Park and north along a flood-control channel was finished in 2011. A stretch of future trailway winding through Birch Hills Golf Course will be developed this year by Chevron.

The Tracks at Brea will link with similar trails in Fullerton, La Habra, Yorba Linda and serve as a gateway to much of the county.

"It has a tremendous potential to be a link not just for (the) city of Brea but for all of north Orange County," said Bill McMillan, a member of the city's Parks, Recreation and Human Services Commission and a recreational cyclist who lives near the old railroad right-of-way.

Last month, the Brea City Council approved spending about $1.2 million for grading to remove arsenic from the soil on the stretch of trail from Brea Boulevard to State College Boulevard. Arsenic and other contaminants were used by Union Pacific for weed abatement along the tracks. Work to replace and bury contaminated soil is expected to begin during the summer. Funding was provided through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

By 2014's end, all of the trail will be cleaned of contaminants and about two-thirds of it finished; the city will seek additional funds to do the last portion and possibly add proposed elements such as playgrounds and exercise equipment. There is no deadline yet for completion. The already-secured $14 million included acquiring the entire railway.

Ideas for elements of the project have been honed through public meetings and a citizen's task force.

"We're at the point were the community is going to start to see construction," DeRobbio said. "We're chasing the money and being as cost-effective as we can. ...

"A lot of people have used that property as a trail. Now it's just going to be a nicer, safer trail."

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